Paintball loader

ABSTRACT

A paintball loader, more specifically a paintball loader which rapidly and forcibly feeds paintballs to a paintball marker, comprises a rotor body having at least one rotor fin, and a drive motor for rotating said rotor body in a first direction. The paintball loader has a central outlet located radially inwards of the tip of the rotor fin and an abutment body arranged to interact with the at least one rotor fin. When the rotor body is rotated, a paintball, located in a space formed between the at least one rotor fin and the abutment body, is pushed out of the paintball loader through the central outlet.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/460,257, entitled “Paintball Loader,” filed on Apr. 30,2012, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/497,476, entitled “Paintball Loader,” filed on Jul. 2, 2009, now U.S.Pat. No. 8,171,925, which is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/258,100, entitled “Paintball Loader,” filed on Oct. 26,2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,568,478, which claims priority under 35 U.S.C.§119(a)-(d) to European Patent Application No. 04025414.6, filed on Oct.26, 2004, all of which are hereby expressly incorporated by reference intheir entireties.

TECHNICAL AREA

The present invention relates to a paintball loader, and morespecifically to a paintball loader which rapidly and forcibly feedspaintballs to a paintball marker.

TECHNICAL BACKGROUND

Paintball markers (also referred to as paintball guns) are used in wargames normally played between two teams of players trying to capture oneanother's flag. The game is played in a large field with opposing homebases at each end. All of the players have a paintball marker thatshoots paintballs, gelatin-covered spherical capsules filled with paint.When the paintball hits a player the capsule is broken and a mark ofpaint is left on the players clothes, indicating the hit.

Typically, the conventional paintball marker loader includes a housingwhich is placed on an upper portion of a paintball marker. The housingis shaped to hold a large amount of paintballs. At the bottom of thehousing is an outlet tube through which the paintballs drop either bythe force of gravity or by the force of a paintball loader mechanism.The outlet tube leads to the marker, where the paintballs are propelledoutwardly from the marker by compressed air.

The main reason to provide a feeding mechanism is that the feeding ofpaintballs only by force of gravity not works satisfactory. Firstly ahigh rate of fire, which is essential for the player, can not beachieved merely with a gravity driven feeding. Secondly the force ofgravity only works when the marker is held in an upright or close toupright position, and consequently there is no feeding at all when themarker is tilted in certain angles since the paintballs then do not fallinto the outlet tube.

This problem can be avoided by providing a paintball loader mechanismwhich by force inputs the paintballs into the outlet tube and into themarker.

Conventional paintball loaders, as the one described in U.S. Pat. No.6,502,567 generally involve a fin device of circular shape which isdriven with a rotational movement provided by a drive motor arrangedbeneath the housing and with an axle shaft that is upwardly directed andcoupled to the rotational centre of the fin device. The paintballs arepushed by the rotation of the fins of the fin device and areconsequently pressed forward and outward from the rotational centre bythe centrifugal force. The outlet tube is connected to the housing withits input opening located in the outer wall of the housing. It is thusthe rotational speed of the drive motor that presses the paintballs intothe opening of the outlet tube and into the marker. This paintballfeeding arrangement comprising a housing with the opening input of anoutlet tube connected to its circumferential wall and a drive motorconnected to its bottom wall constitutes a rather bulky arrangement ontop of the paintball marker.

An indicator is arranged to detect when the outlet tube is full, andshut off the drive motor. When the player starts firing, the feeding ofthe paintballs through the outlet tube is initially very slow since onlythe force of gravity or any pressure between the stuck paintballs causesthem to move into the marker. An indicator in the outlet senses that thepaintballs are moving, and starts the drive motor again.

However, the rate of balls being forced down the outlet by the rotor isstill not satisfactory. Further, the rotor inertia causes a delay beforethe drive motor reaches its normal speed, thus reducing the rate ofpaintballs even further in the beginning of a firing burst.

Although a high feeding speed is desirable, the resulting high stresseson the ball may cause problems with breaking paintballs which leads tofluid leakage in the marker or in the paintball loader itself. Suchbreakages causes problems for, or even a stop of the feeding of thepaintballs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved paintballloader which eliminates at least some of the above problems.

According to the present invention this and other objects are achievedwith a paintball loader comprising a rotor body having at least onerotor fin and a drive motor for rotating said rotor body in a firstdirection; an abutment body arranged to interact with said at least onerotor fin, so that, when the rotor body is rotated, a paintball, locatedin a space formed between said at least one rotor fin and said abutmentbody, is pushed out of said paintball loader through a central outletlocated radially inwards of said space.

The present invention is based on the understanding that an improvedfeeding of paintballs from a container to a paintball marker can beachieved by delivering the paintballs through a central outlet.

In this way an improved paintball loader having a symmetrical, compactstructure that reduces the risk for breakage of the paintballs isachieved.

The central outlet can be located essentially along the rotational axisof the rotor body. By providing the central outlet in this way thepaintballs enter the central outlet at a location where the rotationalmovement of the rotor body is restrained to a turning around it's ownlongitudinal axis. Consequently, when entering the central outlet, thepaintballs are not subjected to any lateral force which might cause themto collide with the inside walls of the central outlet.

Preferably said abutment body is yieldingly arranged in said firstdirection. By having such a yielding abutment body the abutment bodyprovides a cushioning effect on the paintballs and the risk that theinteraction between said at least one rotor fin and said abutment bodydamages the paintballs is decreased. By arranging the paintball loaderaccording to the invention in this manner, the breakage of paintballsagainst a fixed abutment body, for example in the case of a jamming ofpaintballs in the central outlet, can be avoided.

The abutment body can also comprise at least one abutment fin and bearranged to be rotatable coaxially with said rotor. By having such arotatable abutment body the interaction between said at least one rotorfin and said abutment body can be achieved also by the rotating of theabutment body. An interaction between the rotor fin and the abutment finmoving in opposite directions allows a reduction of the rotor speed andthus reduces the centrifugal force that the paintball is subjected towhich in turn reduces the risk for breakage. By providing the abutmentbody with at least one abutment fin, the abutment body is provided witha part specially adapted to interact with the rotor fin of the rotorbody. Such an adaption improves this interaction and facilitates thepushing of paintballs into the central outlet.

Further it is possible to provide that said abutment body is arranged tobe driven in a direction opposite said first direction. Thus it ispossible to achieve a rate of feeding paintballs to the paintball markerwhich is higher than what is the case if the paintballs merely would befed with a motor driven rotor. The moving of both the rotor fin and theabutment fin in opposite directions also reduces the centrifugal forceon the paintballs in comparison to if the same effective rotationalspeed would be achieved by a moving rotor fin towards a fixed abutmentfin. In this case it is especially preferred that the abutment body isyieldingly arranged.

According to an embodiment of the invention the paintball loader alsocomprises a spring member arranged to spring load said abutment body andto rotate it in a direction opposite the rotation of said rotor body. Byproviding a spring member in this way the abutment body is given aflexible attaching which further reduces the forces on the paintballsthus reducing the risk for breakage. The spring member also provides forthat the movement of the paintballs can be stopped in a smooth way.Moreover the paintballs are loaded with a spring loading while waitingto be fed into the marker. The energy loaded in the spring member can beused to further enhance the performance of the paintball loader, forexample by providing a rapid starting of the feeding of paintballs aftera standstill. This embodiment ensures that a rapid feeding of thepaintballs can be achieved when the energy accumulated in the springmember is released. The energy then forces the abutment fin to rotate inthe counter-direction of the rotation of the rotor body thereby forcingpaintballs out of the paintball loader. Thus it is possible to achieve arate of feeding paintballs to the paintball marker which is higher thanwhat is the case if the paintballs merely would be fed with a motordriven rotor.

Preferably, said spring member is a leaf spring. By providing a leafspring the paintball loader has the advantage of subjecting very uniformforce to the paintballs, thereby further reducing the risk for ballbreakage.

Further, it is possible to provide that said rotor body by the force ofsaid drive motor, when a paintball is prevented to move from said space,is arranged to bring said abutment body to rotate in the same directionas the rotor body. In the case of a spring loaded abutment body energycan be accumulated in the spring member and the accumulated energy canthen be used when the feeding of paintballs to the marker continues. Theloaded spring will then rotate the abutment body in the oppositedirection to the rotation of the rotor, thereby achieving an increasedfeeding rate to the central outlet in comparison to a feeding with afixed abutment fin.

Preferably said paintball loader comprises stopping means arranged tostop the drive motor, when the spring member has accumulated a certainamount of energy. By this providing of stopping means the drive motor isstopped first when the spring member is loaded and the drive motor poweris thus used for the loading of the spring member.

Preferably said abutment body comprises at least one input openingadjacently before an abutment fin in the sense of the rotationaldirection of the rotor body, connecting said outlet with said space. Byproviding the entrance to the central outlet in this manner it issecured that the interaction between the abutment fin and a rotor fintakes place adjacently besides an input opening to the central outlet.This ensures that the paintball easily is pushed into the centraloutlet. By providing more than one input opening connected to thecentral outlet it is possible to achieve an increased feeding rate ofpaintballs into the central outlet. It is also possible to maintain afeeding rate but with a decreased rotational speed of the rotor. Such adecrease reduces the centrifugal forces on the paintballs and thus alsothe risk for breakage. In order to optimize the performance, the twoinput openings should be angularly transposed to one another so thatpaintballs not are pushed into the central outlet through several inputopenings simultaneously thus causing collisions and breakage ofpaintballs.

Alternatively, the rotor body can comprise at least one input openingadjacently after a rotor fin in the sense of the rotational direction ofthe rotor body, connecting said outlet with said space. For thisembodiment to have a satisfying performance the rotor body preferablyhas a smaller number of rotor fins than there are abutment fins.

Thus the input opening or input openings are either provided adjacent arotor fin or adjacent an abutment fin, whatever less numerous than theother.

Preferably, each rotor fin is arranged to make contact with saidpaintball on its radially outer half, so that the resulting force of therotor fin on the paintball has a component directed towards therotational centre of the rotor body. By having this arrangementpaintballs are pushed inwardly and not only forward. It should be notedthat a suitable arrangement of the rotor fins can be reached by bendingthe rotor fin in a forward direction or by attaching each rotor fin tothe rotor body with an offset to the rotational centre of the rotorbody, so that each rotor fin extends forwardly in the sense of therotation of the rotor body.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will now be described in more detail withreference to the following drawings which show preferred embodiments ofthe invention and in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a paintball loader according to anembodiment of the invention, which paintball loader is attached to thetop side of a representative paintball marker;

FIG. 2 is an exploded schematic perspective view of a paintball loaderaccording to an embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of the paintball loader in FIG.2.

FIG. 4 is a schematic top view of the paintball loader in FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a paintball marker 100 equipped witha paintball loader 1 according to an embodiment of the invention. Thepaintball loader 1 is attached to the lower part of a paintballcontainer 2, and has a central outlet 5 leading out of the container 2.

The paintball loader 1 is attached to the top side of the paintballmarker 100, which is illustrated as an example only. The paintballmarker 100 includes a marker body 101 and a compressed gas cylinder 102which typically is arranged to the rear end of the paintball marker 100.The paintball marker 100 further comprises a barrel 104 and a handgrip105. The paintball marker 100 also comprises a trigger 106 and an inlettube 107 which is connected to the central outlet 5 of the paintballloader 1. The inlet tube 107 receives paintballs from the paintballloader 1 and leads to a firing chamber in the interior of the markerbody 101.

FIG. 2 is an exploded schematic perspective view of a paintball loaderof FIG. 1. The loader has a base part 4, adapted to act as a lowerlimitation of the container 2. The base part 4 is enclosed by a rim 19,and has a bottom surface 20 sloping inwardly towards the centrallylocated outlet 5.

The base part 4 is connected to a control part 6 adapted to support adrive motor 7 and a spring holder 8 (shown in FIG. 4) containing aspring member 3 (also shown in FIG. 4). A transmission wheel (not shown)is connected to the shaft of the drive motor, and protrudes through anopening in the base part 4. By arranging the drive motor and springholder separately from the container, access and maintenance of thesecomponents is facilitated. Moreover these parts are kept away from thepaintballs which minimizes the risk for subjecting them to the fluidinside the balls.

An abutment body 11 is rotatably arranged in the base part 4, makingcontact with the base part 4 along its outside. For example, theabutment body 11 is adapted to be snap fitted into a flange formed inthe base part 4. The abutment body 11 is provided with an abutment fin12 having rounded shape in order to facilitate the pushing of paintballstowards the rotational axis of the abutment body 11. Further, theabutment body 11 has an input opening 13 extending through therotational axis and communicating with the outlet 5.

On top of the abutment body a rotor body 9 is rotatably arranged. Forexample, a pin 15 projects along the rotational axis of the abutmentbody 11, and the centre of the rotor body 9 is provided with a smallhole, which is adapted to receive the pin 15. Preferably, a plainbearing is also arranged to reduce any friction.

The rotor body has a plurality of, in the illustrated case six, rotorfins 10, and an outer perimeter 16, which surrounds and connects to thetips of the rotor fins 10. Each rotor fin 10 is adapted push a paintballin a circular motion along the perimeter 16. The radius of the rotorbody 9 including the rotor fins 10 determines the number of paintballspossible to push forward simultaneously, and also the distance betweeneach paintball and the rotational axis.

The rotor fins 10 can be ridged, made of e.g. plastic, or be flexible tosome extent, made of e.g. rubber. The rotor fins may also be formed bybrushes or the like, in particular in a case where the abutment body isfixedly arranged.

In the illustrated embodiment the rotor fins 10 have a rounded shapewith the rotor tips being curved in the direction of the rotation. Therotor fins are also projected upwardly from the center of the rotor body9. In this way an interaction between the rotor fins 10 and the slopingbottom 20 is achieved that forces a paintball inwardly and downwardlytowards the axis of rotation.

This forcing inwardly and downwardly is further enhanced by aninclination of the rotor fins 10 in a forward direction in the sense ofthe rotation, with the upper edge 21 of each rotor fin 10 being locatedin a more advanced position than the lower edge 22. In this way therotor fins 10 have a forward inclination which in a preferred embodimentof the invention constitutes an angle of approximately 25 degrees inrelation to the rotational plane of the rotor 9.

The rotor fins 10 in FIG. 2 are further formed to make contact with apaintball on its radially outer half, i.e. on the half facing away fromthe rotational centre of the rotor body 9. Thereby, the resulting forceof the rotor fin on the paintball has a component directed radiallyinwards, i.e. towards the rotational centre of the rotor body 9.

The perimeter 16 is on its underside provided with drive teeth 17 which,in assembled state, engage the transmission wheel. By transmitting thepower of the drive motor 7 in this way a reliable operation isachievable. Of course, the drive teeth can be arranged differently onthe rotor body, and can for example extend radially from the rotor body,like a conventional cog wheel. Moreover, other transmission techniquesmay be used.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of the assembled paintball loader1 of FIG. 2. The figure shows how a paintball 24 is located in a space14 formed between one of the rotor fins 10′ and the abutment fin 12, andthat the input opening 13 is located so as to connect this space 14 withthe outlet 5.

FIG. 4 is a schematic top view of the assembled paintball loader 1 ofFIGS. 2 and 3, partly cut away. FIG. 4 shows the rotor body 9 on top ofthe abutment body 11 in the container 2. Further FIG. 4 illustrates thecontrol part 6 with the drive motor 7 and the spring holder 8 containingthe spring member 3, here comprising a leaf spring 30 attached in oneend to a fix axis 31 in the spring holder 8, and in the other end to theinside of a cylinder 32 surrounding the spring 30. The cylinder isrotatably arranged in the spring holder 8.

A wire 33 is connected with one end to the outside of cylinder 32, andwith the other end to the abutment body 11, so that, when the abutmentbody is rotated, the wire 33 is wound up on it, to thereby rotate thecylinder 32, loading the spring 30. The wire 33 further extends througha small hole 34 (not shown) in a transfer actuator 35 which is arrangedbetween the abutment body 11 and the spring member 3. The wire 33 isprovided with a knot or a thickening 37 between the spring member 3 andthe hole 34. The transfer actuator 35 is connected to a drive motorswitch 36 fixedly arranged in relation to the control part 6. Thetransfer actuator 35 and the drive motor switch 36 constitutes astopping means.

Referring to FIG. 1-4, the operation of the paintball loader 1 will nowbe explained. The loader 1 is connected to the marker 100 by attachingthe central outlet 5 to the inlet tube 107 with an attaching device suchas a clamp (not shown).

The majority of the paintballs 24 in the container 2 now rest on top ofthe rotor body 9 and rotor fins 10, while a few of the paintballs dropdown into the compartments formed between the rotor fins 10. The rotorbody 9 is rotated by the drive motor 7, via the transmission wheel anddrive teeth 17, and a space 14 big enough for containing a paintball 24is formed between the abutment fin 12 and one of the rotor fins 10′. Theinteraction between the abutment fin 12 and a rotor fin 10 of the rotorbody 9, by movement of one or both fins towards the other fin, pushesthe paintballs from the space 14 into the input opening 13 and thecentral outlet 5. The abutment fin 12 has an angular projecting from theabutment body which ensures that the paintball 24 is pushed into theinput opening. After the paintball 24 has entered into the input opening13, another space 14 forms between the abutment fin 13 and the nextrotor fin 10″, and another paintball, located in an adjacent compartmentis sequentially grasped by the abutment fin 12 and pushed into thecentral outlet 5 through the input opening 13. Additional paintballslocated in the container 2 are drawn downwardly by gravity and fill thevacated compartments.

With the assistance of gravity and the pressure between the balls in thecentral outlet 5, the paintballs pass through central outlet 5 and reachthe inlet tube 107 of the paintball marker 100.

When the inlet tube 107 and central outlet 5 are filled with balls, nomore paintballs can be pushed into the outlet 5. As the drive motorcontinues to drive the rotor body 9, a ball will then be clamped betweena rotor fin 10 and the abutment fin 12, and will press the abutment fin12 in the rotational direction of the rotor body 9. This movement istransferred to the loading of the spring member 3, via the wire 33 thatis winded onto the abutment body 11. The force of the spring member 3can be adjusted, thereby adjusting the pressure between the paintballsand securing that no paintballs are broken because of the force of thespring member.

When the wire 33 is almost completely wound up on the abutment body 11(typically after around five turns of the abutment body 11), the knot 37of the wire 33 reaches the transfer actuator 35. Since the hole 34 ofthe transfer actuator 35 is too small to allow the knot 37 to passthrough it, the knot 37 forces the transfer actuator 35 to operate theswitch 36 and turn off the drive motor 7.

When a user of the paintball marker 100 wishes to shoot paintballs, thetrigger 106 is squeezed, which actuates the compressed gas cylinder 102to release bursts of compressed gas, thereby shooting paintballsentering the paintball marker through inlet 107.

As paintballs leave the inlet 107, further paintballs will be pushedinto the outlet 5 by the spring loaded abutment means. The accumulatedenergy in the spring member 3 is thus released, and as more balls arepushed into the outlet the abutment fin 11 is forced to rotate in thecounter-direction of the rotational direction of the rotor body 9. Asthe spring action is an immediate mechanical action, activated as soonas the paintballs in the inlet 107 start to move, paintballs willpromptly be supplied to the marker as soon as firing commences.

Further, as soon as the spring member 3 starts to rotate, the positionof the wire attachment to the cylinder 32 is again moved, and the switch36 is operated to turn on the drive motor 7. For a while, the rotor 9and the abutment body 11 are rotated in opposite directions, cooperatingto quickly force balls out of the container 2 and through the inlet 107.This decreases the centripetal force having effect upon the paintballsand the risk for breakage is reduced.

When the user ceases fire, paintballs are again prevented from movingthrough the outlet 5, and the rotor 9 will again start to move theabutment body 11 in its counter direction. When the spring member 3 isloaded, the drive motor will stop.

Alternatively, in case of a long burst, when the spring member hasreleased all its energy, the abutment body 11 comes to a standstill. Therotor body 9 will then continue to rotate, and push paintballs outthrough the outlet 5 as described above.

While FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 illustrate a preferred embodiment of theinvention, also other embodiments are feasible within the scope of theclaims of the invention.

For example, while in the shown embodiment the upper rotating body isthe rotor, and the lower rotating body is the abutment, thisrelationship can be reversed. Also, the abutment body is not necessarilyrotatable, regardless of if it located on top of or below the rotor.Thus, the claims are intended to cover also an embodiment where arotating body with at least one fin is arranged beneath a fixed bodywith at least one abutment fin. The claims are also intended to cover anembodiment where a rotating body with at least one fin is arranged ontop of a fixed abutment body, such as a suitably formed ridge in thebase part 4.

Further, the abutment body 11 can be provided with several abutment fins12 which each, in the sense of the rotation, is arranged adjacentlybehind an input opening 13. Such an embodiment allows a faster forcingof paintballs down the central outlet 5. Preferably the input openings13 and abutment fins 12 are distributed around the abutment body 11 sothat two pairs of an abutment fin 12 and a rotor fin 10 not are allowedto interact simultaneously and press two paintballs into the centraloutlet 5 at the same time. In this way jamming of paintballs in thecentral outlet and possible breakage of the paintballs can be avoided.

It is also possible to arrange a separate drive motor for rotating theabutment body. The original drive motor could in such an embodiment lackstopping means making it constantly rotate the rotor body, as long asthe paintball marker is turned on, while the abutment body could bedriven in the opposite direction. This would minimize the centrifugalforce that the paintballs are subjected to. Possibly the arrangementwith the spring member would in such an embodiment need to allow therotation of the abutment body also after that the spring member hasreached its full load and in that case there would most likely not beany need of stopping means. It is also possible to have an arrangementwith two separate drive motors driving the rotor body 9 and the abutmentbody 11, respectively, in opposite directions. In this case the springmember 3 may not be required, although this is still preferred.

It should be understood that a number of modifications of the abovedescribed embodiment of the invention is possible within the scope ofthe invention according to the following claims. For example, also useof different types of springs, such as coil springs or cup springs, arewithin the scope of the invention.

The stopping means can further be designed in a number of differentways. For instance, instead of the transfer actuator 35 operated by thewire 33, the spring holder 8 can be arranged slideably in the controlpart 6, so that it is movable towards the abutment body 11 when the wireis completely wound up. The holder 8 can then be connected to the drivemotor switch, so that such movement turns the drive motor off

As a further alternative, the drive motor 7 can be torque limited, i.e.designed to shut off as soon as the applied torque exceeds a giventhreshold. Such a drive motor would only run as long as the paintballsare pushed through the outlet 5, or the abutment body 11 rotates withthe rotor 9. As soon as the spring is loaded, and the rotor is preventedto move any further, the torque will increase and the drive motor stop.This embodiment may actually be preferred, as it does not rely on anyintermediate elements to turn off the drive motor. As soon as there is arisk of damaging a paintball (increased torque), the drive motor turnsoff. However, such a torque limited drive motor is of course moreexpensive.

Finally, another feasible embodiment of the invention is a paintballloader wherein the rotor body comprises the bottom of the container. Byhaving such an embodiment, the number of structural components can bedecreased since no separate bottom of the container is needed.

What is claimed is:
 1. A paintball loader comprising: a first memberconfigured to rotate in at least a first direction and define at least aportion of a space; and a second member configured to rotate in at leasta direction opposite said first direction and define another portion ofsaid space, a shape of said space changing as said first member rotatesin said first direction and said second member rotates in said directionopposite said first direction.
 2. The paintball loader according toclaim 1, wherein said first member is a fin.
 3. The paintball loaderaccording to claim 1, wherein said first member is a rotor body.
 4. Thepaintball loader according to claim 1, wherein said second member is anabutment body.
 5. The paintball loader according to claim 1, whereinsaid second member is a fin.
 6. The paintball loader according to claim1, wherein said second member is further configured to rotate in saidfirst direction.
 7. The paintball loader according to claim 1, whereinsaid space is configured to receive a paintball.
 8. The paintball loaderaccording to claim 7, further comprising at least one input opening,said input opening rotating in at least said direction opposite to saidfirst direction and being configured to receive said paintball.
 9. Thepaintball loader according to claim 1, further comprising a drive motorfor rotating at least one of said first member and said second member.10. The paintball loader according to claim 1, wherein said first memberand said second member rotate about a common axis.
 11. The paintballloader according to claim 1, further comprising an outlet locatedradially inwards of said space.
 12. The paintball loader according toclaim 11, wherein said outlet is centrally located.
 13. The paintballloader according to claim 1, further comprising a spring member arrangedto load one of said first member and said second member.
 14. A paintballloader comprising: a rotor body configured to rotate about an axis andhaving at least one fin arranged to make contact with a paintball; andan abutment body arranged to interact with said at least one fin so thatwhen the rotor body is rotated the paintball located in a space formedbetween said at least one fin and said abutment body moves towards saidaxis, a shape of said space changing as said rotor body rotates aboutsaid axis.
 15. The paintball loader according to claim 14 furthercomprising a drive motor for rotating said rotor body.
 16. The paintballloader according to claim 14, wherein said axis passes through a centraloutlet of the paintball loader.
 17. The paintball loader according toclaim 14, wherein said abutment body is arranged to be driven in adirection opposite said rotor body.
 18. A paintball loader comprising: ahousing; a first member disposed in said housing and configured to movefrom a first position toward a second position during a first timeframe; and a second member disposed in said housing and configured tomove from said second position toward said first position during saidfirst time frame, said first member and said second member defining aspace configured for receiving at least a portion of a paintball, ashape of said space changing as said first member moves toward saidsecond position and said second member moves toward said first position.19. The paintball loader according to claim 18, wherein said firstmember and said second member rotate about a common axis.
 20. Thepaintball loader according to claim 18, wherein said first member andsaid second member rotate in opposite directions.